


Freaky Friday

by vvavavoom



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-03-31 17:39:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13980153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vvavavoom/pseuds/vvavavoom
Summary: Freaky Friday au where Riza and Winry are sisters. Let me know what you think!





	1. Chapter 1

Riza had to wake up extra early every morning to make sure everyone else woke up. Not that she minded, she enjoyed early mornings. She just wished the other members of the household were responsible enough to do it themselves.

At six-thirty am sharp, she opened Selim’s door and gently roused him. “Good morning, time to get up.” 

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned. Riza left him to it, trusting that he would get out of bed. Across the hall, she opened Winry’s door and announced the time loud and clear, so Winry couldn’t miss it, and left her door open. Winry’s body didn’t move. She didn’t even seem alive since she was lying face down in her pillow, but Riza knew.

“Winry, get up, I have a lot to do this morning and you can’t be late!” Riza knocked very hard on the door, trying to get her to move at least. Still nothing.

Huffing in annoyance, Riza didn’t waste any more time with her. She still had to get dressed and double check all her appointments for the day.

Downstairs, she fixed Selim some breakfast. He looked half-asleep, but at least he was dressed. Winry’s food was getting cold on the table though, and it was six-forty-six with still no sign that she had woken up. Stomping up the stairs, Riza saw that Winry was still in bed. Furious, Riza ripped the covers off of her.

“Winry! Get up now!” Riza grabbed both her ankles to drag her out, but Winry was quick to grab the railings in the headboard. Riza pulled as hard as she could, but Winry wouldn’t budge. Letting go, she smacked Winry’s leg.

“I will not be late because of you! I don’t care if I have to drag you out of here in your pajamas!”

What a selfish, little brat! Can’t even get up on her own. Riza has to do everything in this house. Doesn’t Winry understand how stressed she is lately?

Riza was fixing her hair in the bathroom mirror, grumbling about bratty teenagers and how ungrateful they were when her phone rang. It was the wedding planner. She had asked him to call as early as possible, so they could go over the details. She wouldn’t have much time to do it tomorrow.

“Hi. Yes, this is she… Yes, yes, everything’s on schedule for Saturday,” she responded, walking past Winry’s room, where she was still in bed. “Perfect, well, I’ll need the caterer to be there at three to set up for the reception.” She checked her watch, it was six fifty-four.

“You’ll have to contact the venue for that. I sent you their phone number a while ago.” Riza found Selim on the couch playing on his Gameboy, “Excuse me one second.” She put her hand over the phone, to muffle her voice.

“Selim, go wake up Winry for me.” She nodded upstairs, at Winry’s room. He happily got off the couch and ran up the stairs, eager to torture his sister. Riza normally wouldn’t stoop so low as to have Selim wake her up, but she was getting desperate.

“Sorry about that, I’ll send it to you again.” Back on the phone with the planner, she prepared Selim’s lunch as fast as possible.

Winry knew she had to get up, but she could milk those couple minutes before really having to get up. They made all the difference. Snoozing away, she didn’t hear the footsteps creeping into her room. Suddenly, an air horn went off in her ear, making her scream and jump out of bed.

“Selim, what the hell! Get out of my room!” She chased after him and slammed the door. Grabbing the nearest clothes, she got dressed and ready as quickly as possible.

“Winry we’re leaving without you!” She heard her sister yell from downstairs.

Knowing that Riza was going to be all pissy anyway, Winry didn’t bother yelling back. She got downstairs as quickly as possible. Riza already had her purse and keys in hand, a very unhappy look on her face.

“Aw, I thought we were leaving her!” Selim smiled, his backpack on. Winry reached out to smack him, but he jumped out of the way.

“Enough.” Riza declared, ushering them into her car. Their morning routine was not the best.

On the way to school, Winry sat in the passenger seat, flipping through the radio stations.

“Winry, please, just pick one, you’re driving us crazy.” Riza looked in the rearview mirror for agreement from Selim. Winry just rolled her eyes and settled on a station she had already passed about three times.

“So, I was thinking, maybe I should get another piercing, right about here.” Winry pinched the cartilage, high on her ear. “What do you think?”

“Yes, because you need more of those,” Riza said sarcastically. “I don’t want you looking like a tart at my wedding. Some very important people will be there and–”

“Oh my god! Why is everything about your wedding? I get it, you’re getting married, that doesn’t mean the whole world’s got to change. Just because Mr. Perfect’s friends will be there.”

“I don’t understand. You never have anything good to say about Roy, and, besides, this doesn’t have anything to do with him. This is about what’s important to me.”

“Whatever…” Winry crossed her arms and slumped further down in her seat.

“Yeah, what a baby!” Selim kicked her seat in front of him. She reached back to smack him, not caring if Riza saw.

“Stop it! Why do you have to hit him?” Riza reprimanded her, pulling up to the high school. “You’re always hurting him.”

“She always starts it!” Selim interjected from the backseat. Winry glared at him.

“You always take his side. I’m over it!” Winry got out and slammed the door. Her siblings always ganged up on her. It sucked being the middle child.

“Bye! Make good choices!” Riza yelled out the window, waving. Winry just kept walking, ignoring her.

“Promise me you won’t end up like her.” Riza sighed to Selim as she drove away.


	2. Chapter 2

Being in high school was way harder than everyone gave her credit for. Winry had to juggle so many things on her plate. It was a wonder that she didn’t sleep in later. I mean, sure, she had stayed up late the night before texting her boyfriend, which is probably the reason she was so tired this morning, but that’s not her fault! She kept telling Ed they were going to be tired if they didn’t go to sleep soon, but he didn’t listen. He kept sending her songs and stupid videos until like one in the morning.

And besides, who cared if her sister got pissed at her? It’s not like she didn’t plan for this kind of stuff anyway. Riza was always nitpicking her for every stupid, little thing that she did wrong and never noticed anything she did that was right or good. Like her band, which had been doing amazing, by the way.

Winry’s thoughts of her sister disappeared as she met up with her friends. She tossed her bag on the table and sat down next to LanFan. “What’s up!” Paninya was talking animatedly regardless of Ling sleeping, his head face down on the table.

“Winry! Did you finish the questions for English?” Paninya turns to her as Winry reaches toward her breakfast tray and steals some tater tots.

"Barely," Winry mumbles, popping one into her mouth. 

“Please let me borrow them! I didn’t have time to finish them all!”

“Fine, but if Mr. Barry catches us cheating, I’m gonna murder you.” She searched for the paper in her book bag and pulled them out, handing them to her friend. “And I need them back before class starts.”

“Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Paninya scribbled the answers quickly, ignoring Winry telling her not to copy them word for word.

“Hey guys,” Ed and Al appeared, each with a full tray of food.“The breakfast line is getting ridiculous, fucking gremlins trying skip people,” Ed grumbled sitting next to Winry.

Ling woke up at the smell of fresh eggs and tater tots and tried to sneak some food off Edward’s plate but almost got stabbed with a fork. LanFan passed him her tray of food, and he gobbled up all her leftovers, even though his tray had been cleaned not even ten minutes ago.

“They should just expel all the stupid kids. Sorry Ling, Paninya.” Neither of the two looking up. “Then there’d be no lines and more food for the rest of us.”

LanFan threw her empty milk carton at Ed’s head for the comment about Ling, hitting him on the forehead. People started to stare when he got up, threatening to dump his eggs on her.

“Here, Ling, you can have my tots.” Al tilted his tray over Ling’s, using his food as a peace offering. “Now stop fighting, Brother. Your mouth is always getting you into trouble.”

Ed shoved his earbuds in and muttered something about milk and stupid friends. Winry’s hand came down to rest on his thigh, and he visibly relaxed. He ate the rest of his breakfast in silence to everyone’s relief.

Suddenly, the bell rang, and everyone groaned about going to class. Winry hated English so much. Mr. Barry was so unfair, especially to her. She swore, it was like he had it out for her.

Walking into class, Paninya slipped Winry back her answers for the assignment. She quickly shoved the papers back into her book bag, not wanting her teacher to see she had been sharing answers.

“Class, I have your tests from last week back, and I think the majority of you did a very well.” Barry started passing them out. “You’ll be pleased to know that most of your assessments were spot on.” As he passed Winry’s paper to her, she couldn’t miss the big, fat F on the front of her test.

She looked up at him with wide eyes, and he just gave her a look of disappointment, moving on to the desk behind her. How the hell did she get an F? An F! Winry was smart god damn it! Her analysis of Julius Ceasar was phenomenal! She didn’t deserve this!

Fuming through the rest of class, Winry didn’t even remember what they discussed. All she could think about was giving him a piece of her mind.

When the dismissal bell rang, Winry chased down her teacher, running to catch up to him. “Excuse me Mr. Barry, but I just don’t understand why I got an F. I think I did a pretty good job at answering–”

“Well, to be honest Winry, you completely missed the point of the question. You were meant to analyze the plot as a whole, and you didn’t seem to grasp that.” He cut her off.

“But I did understand! It’s not that hard of a concept! My answers were practically the same as everyone else’s.”

“My grade is final, Ms. Rockbell, so I suggest you drop it, and maybe focus more of your time studying instead of however it is you waste it.” Barry met her eyes, giving her a smile that wasn’t very friendly, before walking away.

Watching him go, Winry muttered. “Even Ceasar wasn’t this big of a dick.”

Mr. Barry stiffened and turned around slowly. Oh, shit. Knowing that he heard, Winry quickly spun around to run away.

“Winry!”


	3. Chapter 3

Riza usually doesn’t drive while on the phone, that was Roy’s job. But she had no choice right now. She was had to get as much done before the wedding, which was only two days away.

Campaigning was not easy work and the thought of leaving on a honeymoon for a week already seemed like a huge setback, but Roy insisted they needed a break.

“Yes, I think that would be a great idea,” Riza swerved through traffic. Damn Winry for making her late. “We’ll schedule it when we get back. Yes, I promise, we’ll be back by then.”

Her personal phone began ringing as she was pulling into the front gate of the office building. It was the florist. Crap. “I’ll call you back, bye.”

Trying to hang up one phone, while driving forward, and answering her other phone, Riza didn’t notice the guard yelling at her to stop before she crashes into the gate. Her car suddenly rams into it, setting the airbag off.

“Ma’am!” The guard runs up to her window. “Are you ok?”

“Oh my god,” Riza jumps out of her car. “I am so sorry!” She goes around to see that the front bumper of her car is completely unhinged. “I will pay for this, I promise!” There was already a line of cars lining up behind her, trying to get into the lot.

This morning couldn’t get any worse.

After sorting out the whole mess with her car and the gate, Riza finally made it into work with very little dignity.

“Sorry I’m late,” She rushed in, setting all her stuff down at her desk. “I got held up in a phone call.”

Roy looked up from his desktop giving her a wry look. He already knew about her little fender bender since she texted him she was going to be late and insisted she was fine. She also made him promise not to tell anyone, she was already embarrassed enough as it is.

“We were starting to take bets on why you were late,” Havoc said while leaning very far back in his chair. “I said it was because you were pulling a runaway bride.” He and Breda chuckled together. Riza ignored them and continued unpacking her things.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Roy walks up to her and gives her a squeeze on the shoulder. He leans down to whisper in her ear, “Did you at least hit the guard on your way through the gate?” He’s entertained at how unamused she is. “He’s always trying to give me a parking ticket, that little bastard.” Riza gives him a hard stare and he backs off with a grin.

“Did you start on the paperwork I left on your desk last night?” Riza asks, it was her turn to see him squirm. “It’s very important that you get this done before we leave.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get on it.” Roy turns to get himself more coffee in the kitchen, not seeming too serious about getting anything done. He’s been using his upcoming wedding as an excuse to slack off.

“Sir,” Riza always uses that title for him at the office, “You won’t be elected for anything if you don’t take this seriously.”

Roy didn’t even acknowledge her comment and continued sipping his coffee at his desk merrily. “What a beautiful day.” He turned his chair around to stare out the window.

Children. She worked with children.

They settled in for the day and Riza was able to wrangle Roy into finishing some of his work, albeit reluctantly. Thankfully, all her appointments were without any incidents.

“I’m going to need you to take me home today.” Riza tells her fiancé over their lunch, “They had to take my car to the shop.”

“Oh, does this mean I can stay over tonight?” He asks, raising his eyebrows and giving her a sultry look.

“No.” she responds flatly. “You know the rules; no boys overnight. God knows how Winry would try to use that to her advantage if she saw us breaking it.” Riza stabs into her salad.

“We’ve never let that stop us before, what they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“Roy, we only have a couple more days before the wedding, I think you can wait.” Riza chides. “Besides, my grandfather is flying in today, did you forget?”

“Oh, right, Grumman.” He leans back in his chair. That old croon is always giving him grief. Although, he has been very supportive of Roy through his campaigning process and Grumman was the one who introduced the couple in the first place.

Roy grabbed Riza’s left hand where her engagement ring is, and they shared a longing look. They couldn’t wait to start their lives together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to make the chapters a little longer, bare with me please.


	4. Chapter 4

Today was just great. Winry has to sit in detention for an extra hour after school all because her stupid teacher is a big jerk.

After serving her time, she left the class and checked her phone. Winry sees a bunch of messages from her bandmates who all seem to have made plans in her absence.

Just as she was wondering how she was going to get home since all her friends had left school, she sees Ed sitting on the floor in the hallway. He has his earbuds in, so he doesn’t notice her until she’s standing over him.

“Hey,” she smiles and offers a him a hand. “You didn’t tell me you were staying late.”

Taking her hand, he pulls himself up and grabs his book-bag. “Yeah, well, I felt bad leaving you here in detention considering all the times you wait up for me while I’m in there.”

“Where’s Al?” The two begin walking out of the school.

“Oh, he went to eat with Ling and LanFan.” he shrugs. “They had to kill some time and I told them I’d stay here.”

“Aw, and you gave up a meal for me?” she grabs his arm. “You must really love me!”

“Ah shaddup,” He blushes and tries to pull out of her hold. “And don’t be yelling that mushy shit out loud!”

Giggling, Winry lets go of his arm but links their hands together. They are talking about where they should eat when they hear someone call Winry’s name. The couple turns around to see Mr. Barry standing a few feet away.

“Ms. Rockbell, come here for a second.” He gestures her over to him.

Winry shoots Edward a look before walking over to her teacher grudgingly. “Yes, Mr. Barry?”

“Perhaps you should be utilizing your time by studying for the placement exam tomorrow and not…” He peers over at Edward who’s frowning back at him. “Wasting it.”

“I’m prepared for the test Mr. Barry.” Winry tries her hardest not to say anything rash again. “I’ve been studying for weeks.”

“Mhhm. We’ll see about that tomorrow.” He gives them both a once-over then saunters back towards his classroom with an air of superiority.

“That guy’s such an asshat.” Ed says as they go into the parking lot.

“I know right? What a dumb bitch!” Winry agrees.

Once they’re inside Ed’s car he turns up the music really loud to some horrible death metal and peels out of the lot, making a grand exit.

“Why do you always do that?” Winry rolls her eyes. “It’s obnoxious.”

“It’s called being badass.” He replies, going a little faster. “What would you know about it?”

“I think it’s called overcompensation.” She side eye’s him.

Edward throws a fit at her insinuation, yelling that he was taller than her now, god damn it, and he would be treated as such.

They end up getting burgers to-go at the local drive-thru and eat them while Ed drives down the familiar road to her house.

Winry notices that he’s not exactly taking her home though but detouring towards their spot where they fool around. She gets butterflies in her stomach at the anticipation.

When he parks the car, Edward lowers the volume. When reaches for her they melt into each other.

They don’t resurface until about an hour later when Winry’s phone starts ringing, Paninya’s face on the screen. They pull apart from and fix their clothes back into place hurriedly. Ed puts the car in drive as Winry answers the call.

“What’s up?” She says a little breathy.

“Hey, can you stop sucking the lips off the shrimp and get home! We’re waiting for you!”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your panties in a twist, I’m going.” She hangs up before Paninya can get another word out.

Ed laughs at her response and grabs her hand as they head to her house. His driving isn’t the best, he almost runs over a pedestrian crossing the street and drives through a couple stop signs. Winry has to yell at him to pay attention or he’s going to get himself killed one day. If Riza knew how her boyfriend drove, she would never let her get in a car with him again. In fact, if Riza knew a lot of things they did together, Winry would probably never see him again.

At Winry’s house, she sees her friends gathered in the driveway, waiting for them. Ling and LanFan are throwing M&M’s at each other’s faces while Al and Paninya watch, sitting on the hood of Ling’s van.

“Sorry, sorry.” She jumps out of the car before Ed completely brakes and runs to open the garage. Winry quickly goes inside the house to put her stuff away.

“Oh, look who decided to join us.” Alphonse teases as he gets in his brother’s car.

“You guys aren’t staying?” Ling asks.

“Nah, we got shit to do.” Ed yells out the open window. “Bye!” He once again peels out of the driveway as Al tells him to slow down.

Inside, Winry goes upstairs and notices her door was left open. Weird. Pushing it open all the way she sees her brother inside using drum sticks on one of her guitars like a pair of bongos.

“What the hell are you doing?” She screeches and jumps over her bed to catch him. “Get out of my room!” Selim screams and runs out, Winry chasing him down.

LanFan, Ling, and Paninya hear all the commotion upstairs while setting up. They give each other a confused look, trying to figure out what’s going on. Suddenly, Winry appears in the doorway, without saying anything she grabs her guitar and plus it into the amplifier.

“What happened?” LanFan asks, her guitar already strapped over her shoulder.

“Nothing, just taking care of my little brother.” Winry starts playing and the band begins practice.

Roy and Riza pull up to the house just in time to see Selim running out the front door. His screams are muffled by a pair of tidy whities tied around his head.

“Oh Selim!” Riza cries, “What did she do to you?” She worriedly pulls at it and Selim whines in pain. Roy has to keep himself from laughing, lest Riza catch him. 

Roy and she try to pull it off together, but it won’t budge “Go inside, we’ll take it off now!”

Selim is crying and screaming as he runs towards the house and slams head first into the door. Riza follows him inside, the sound of Winry’s band in the garage only fuels her anger. “Winry!”

Roy shakes his head. What has he gotten himself into?

When he gets inside, Riza is cutting the underwear off with a pair of scissors, promising that she is going to punish Winry severely.

“She’s going to get it, I promise- hold still!” Riza cuts another chunk out. “Careful with your face!”

“Hey hoo!”

Roy and Riza turn around to see Grumman standing in the kitchen. Surprised she goes to hug her grandfather, forgetting her brother who’s still struggling to remove the tidy whities from his face.

“Hey Grandpa! You’re here early!” She tries to say over the sound of the music.

“What?”

“I said, you’re here early!” she tries again.

“I can’t hear you!”

“Grandpa!” Selim runs to greet his grandfather.

“Hey, squirt! What’s this?” He pulls the rest of the ruined underwear off his grandson’s head. “One of them thongs?” He holds it up to inspect it. “I don’t want to know.” Shaking his head, he walks out of the kitchen.

“Riza!” Selim whines, “Winry was super late today getting home, I was by myself for like, hours! And she hit me! And then she put that on my head!” He yells at his sister, hoping she grounds Winry forever.

“I know, I know! I’ll deal with it, I promise” She grabs his face by the chin to calm him down, “Now go wash up.” and sends him upstairs.

Alone, Riza turns to Roy for support. The music was starting to give her a headache.

“Why don’t we all go out to dinner tonight? Try to relax.” he offers, not really knowing what an appropriate punishment would be for strangling your brother with a pair of underwear.

The noise reaches a new crescendo as Winry’s guitar solo screeches throughout the house.

“Wait, I can’t hear you. Give me a second.” Riza goes to the fuse box and turns off the switch for the garage. The music immediately stops, and she hears the groans all the way to the kitchen. Good. “Time’s up!” she screams.

Going back into the kitchen she warns Roy, “Get ready for the drama, she hates it when I do that.” She hugs him around the middle, looking up at his face. “You were saying?”

“It seems like things are getting a little hectic around here. Let’s get out of the house with the kids, less likely for them to kill each other in public.” he reaches down to kiss her lips softly. She grins up at him and agrees. They reach for another kiss when the phone interrupts them.

“God, give me a second.” Riza answers the phone, “Hello, yes this is she… Oh, really?”

Whatever news she’s getting on the other line, Roy knows it’s not good.


	5. Chapter 5

The band is picking up their equipment while Paninya speaks on the phone with one of the coordinators of the Warped tour set list. It’s one of the biggest showcases for new and upcoming bands where hundreds of people come to watch. They were desperate to get a spot to play and it would be an amazing feat if their little band could go on stage and get some exposure.

“Yeah, well thank you so much! Alright, bye.” Paninya hangs up the phone and stands up from the stool.

Everyone drops what they’re doing and crowds around her. “What did they say?” Winry asks, eager.

Paninya has a huge grin on her face, barely able to contain her excitement. “You won’t believe it! A band had to drop out of the auditions and we’re the first alternate!”

Everyone erupts into cheers as they all hugged. “Oh wow! This is amazing!” Ling cheered.

“Yeah, so we have to check in at seven in the House of Blues and then we go on a seven forty-five.” Paninya clapped her hands in glee.

“When is it?” LanFan asks, letting go of Ling.

“It’s tomorrow night.” Paninya already adding it to her calendar on her phone.

Winry suddenly stops jumping up and down, not excited anymore. “Wait, seven pm, tomorrow night?” She clarifys.

“Yeah, what’s the problem?” Everyone looks at her worried.

“Dammit, tomorrow night is my sister’s wedding rehearsal!” Winry groans and their faces fall.

Paninya scoffs, “Winry, come on, this is like, really important!”

“Can’t you go late or something?” LanFan pleads.

“Yeah, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!” Ling agrees. “We’ve been busting our butts for a chance like this!”

Winry’s about to retort when she’s interrupted by her grandfather running into the garage. “There she is!” he comes from behind and hugs LanFan, shaking her. “Winry, give your grandpa a big huggy wuggy!” LanFan is frozen in shock as this stranger embraces her.

“Um, grandpa, I’m right here.” Winry waves to him.

“Oh,” Grumman looks at LanFan’s distraught face and pushes her out of his way to get to Winry. She crashes into the shelves along the wall and Ling helps her upright. “I need my glasses, I thought you did something to your hair.” He chuckles and grabs his granddaughter instead.

Winry greets her grandpa and ushers him back inside the house so she can see her bandmates off. They’re considerably less thrilled about the news of their audition than they were before, solemnly packing into Ling’s van.

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll talk to her.” Though she’s sure that won’t work. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah, we’re screwed.” Ling says as he shuts the back door.

“Yeah, no offense Winry, but your sister is super harsh, good luck with that.” Paninya jumps into the back seat.

“You said it yourself, she’s got her head up Mustang’s ass, she’s never gonna let you bail.” Ling gives her a skeptical look.

Winry doesn’t even have a retort for them. She watches them drive away in defeat. She wonders, how am I going to convince Riza to agree to this?

Dragging herself up to her room, Winry is too caught up in thoughts of persuading Riza she doesn’t notice her bedroom was open again. When she gets to the doorway she sees Selim jumping on her bed and this time he’s wearing one of her bras on top of his shirt while reciting lines from her diary.

“He kissed me again today and it was sooooooo amazing. I think I’m in love! Ooooooooh!” He says and makes kissy faces.

Winry screams and lunges at him, “Get out of my room!” She shrieks. Selim jumps off the bed and scatters out just as Winry’s about to slam the door. Only there is no door. Winry feels along the wall in horror where her bedroom door should be and screams in distress.

“Riza!” Winry bellows could be heard across the house. She’s taking two steps down the stairs at a time. “Riza! My door is missing!” Landing on the first floor, she immediately sees her sister sitting at the dining room table down the hall, clearly ready for the impending argument.

Breathing in deeply, Winry marches toward her sister. “Where is my door?” She snaps.

Calmly, Riza unfolds her hands. “I got a phone call from your teacher today. He had a lot of interesting things to say about you.”

“What?” She barks, clearly not interested in anything her teacher had to say.

“He said that today you used foul language at him and you served detention, is this true?” Her eyebrow arches, daring her sister to deny the accusations.

“Well, yes, but he was being a total dick!”

“Is that what you called him?” Riza asks in disbelief. “Really Winry, where did you learn that kind of language? I have never in my life said that to another person, especially an authority figure who’s there to teach and guide you, what were you thinking?”

“Because he’s totally out to get me! He gave me an F on a test that was completely unfair!” Winry tries to make her sister understand. “I even checked with my friends and they all had the same answers as me and they passed!”

“An F?” Riza raises her voice, “That is unacceptable Winry! Why are you getting F’s now?” The pounding in her head gets worse the longer this argument goes on. “And those friends of yours are obviously not a good influence, you’re cursing in school, getting detentions, and failing.” Riza tries to stay calm. Nothing will come from a screaming match. I can’t stoop to her level, she keeps reminding herself.

“There’s nothing wrong with my friends!” Winry defends, “Maybe it’s because you don’t pay any attention to anything that goes on in my life!” Her hands are in fists now and her voice gets higher. “Just give me back my door! Why the hell would you take it away? I need it!”

“Maybe it’s because you’re lacking focus on what’s important and I obviously need to keep a closer eye on you. Isn’t that what you want anyways, for me to pay more attention to you?”

Winry huffs in frustration, angry that Riza used her own words against her. “I hate you! You don’t care about me at all! You just want to see me miserable! Mom never would have done thisc to me!”

Taken aback, Riza can’t control the hurt in her voice. “Well I’m sorry that I’m not Mom but I can’t have you doing whatever the hell you want because I’m responsible for you now!”

“Yeah, and you resent me every day for it!” Winry screams back.

“Ok!” Roy interrupts, suddenly appearing in the dining room. He clearly heard their entire conversation and is trying to diffuse the hostility. “Who’s up for Xingnese?”

Winry once again screams in anger and stomps back up the stairs claiming she was moving out the first chance she got and was never going to speak to her family ever again.

Riza lets her head fall into her hands, rubbing her temples to alleviate the tension. “What am I going to do with her?” Roy rests his hands on her shoulders, massaging the strain out as well.

The family all agreed to go to the Xingnese restaurant that Mr. Yao, Ling’s father, owns for dinner. Roy was closely acquainted with the Yao’s since they were endorsing Roy’s campaign for Senator and were very influential in the community.

“Welcome to Yao’s House of Dragon everybody!” Mrs. Yao greeted them, “Oh Ms. Riza! Congratulations on your wedding to Mr. Mustang!” She smiles at the couple who give their thanks. “Are you two happy for your sister?” She asks, pinching Selim’s cheek, who smiles back at her.

“Ecstatic.” Winry sarcastically answers, not looking up from her menu. Riza brushes her off, telling Mrs. Yao to ignore her. They continue conversing about who’s catering the wedding and other details.

“Hey, Winry,” Roy leans over to whisper to her. “Your bedroom door is in the laundry room, behind the washer and dryer.” He tries to get on her good side. His relationship with Riza’s sister wasn’t as warm as he’d hope it would be considering it was only days before their wedding.

“Oh, like I didn’t figure that out.” She continues looking at the menu, giving him the cold shoulder.

Roy sighs and sits back in his char. Grumman whispers to him not to be too eager with the girl. “Let her come to you.”

“Yeah, she’d come with a machete.” Roy grumbles.

Riza clears her throat now that Mrs. Yao left the table and asks Winry if her sarcasm is really necessary.

Her sister gives a look of thought then puts her menu down. She has the sweetest look on her face now, “You’re right Riza, I’m really sorry about the way I’ve been acting, and I promise to try harder.” False honey dripping from her words. Roy, Grumman, and Selim seem surprised at her sudden change in attitude, though Riza doesn’t buy it.

“Ok, what do you want?” Riza asks frankly.

“We have this really important audition tomorrow night at the House of Blues and we really, really need to go because we’ll never have this opportunity again.” Winry says quickly.

“Oh, that’s wonderful, your band has an audition.” Riza looks at the other members of the table who dubiously nod along. “Tomorrow night, you mean, after the rehearsal dinner, right?”

“Well… it would kind of be during.”

“Winry are you out of your mind? You would miss your own sister’s wedding for a band practice? You’re the maid of honor.” She says through her teeth.

“It’s not a practice! It’s a really rare opportunity! And besides! It’s not your wedding, it’s the rehearsal, who needs to rehearse for a wedding anyway?”

“I think we need to have a talk.” Riza stands up, throwing her napkin on the table. Winry rolls her eyes and stands up too. The three males sit at the table uncomfortably after the sisters’ outburst.

Riza pulls her sister to the corner of the restaurant and stands in front of her. “Does anything matter to you besides yourself Winry? I don’t understand why you can’t give back just a tiny bit?”

“I do give back! All I’m asking for is a few hours so that we can audition, and I’ll be right back!” Winry begs.

An older Xingnese worker in the restaurant watches the two siblings argue. He strokes his beard with contemplation as an idea comes to him. Mrs. Yao notices him watching and warns him. “Fuu! You stay out of their business; do you hear me?” He tsk’s and walks away with a small smile. “Fuu!”

“All I hear is that my special night means nothing to you, that I mean nothing to you.” Riza scolds.

“Oh, please, I know that me and my band mean nothing to you! Everything with you is no, no, no!”

“That is not true! I let you use the garage every day! You act like everything is so hard for you but it’s not. The only thing you should be concerned with is going to school, but you can’t even manage that.”

“You couldn’t last one day in my high school!” Winry points a finger at her.

“Oh, I could. Actually, I did! And you know what? I did it without getting F’s and going to detention.”

“Well, I’m sorry that I don’t fit in like everything else in your perfect, little life!”

“Winry, my life isn’t perfect! You seriously need a reality check!” Riza grips Winry’s shoulders and gives her a shake.

“Helloo!” Both girl’s head’s whip around to see Mr. Fuu approaching with a tray. “Would you be interested in a fortune cookie?” Two little fortune cookies sat on the silver tray. “They’re good luck!”

Riza and Winry share a look before Riza faces the elderly man. “Listen, this isn’t a very good time.” she gently declines.

“No, no, now is a good time.” He insists, offering the cookies again. “They very good.” He then starts explaining in rapid Xingnese which goes over both the sisters’ heads.

“Ok, fine.” Winry grabs one just to make him shut up. Riza grabs the other and offers him a smile in thanks. He instantly quiets and smiles back at them, almost creepily and walks away with a bow.

Riza looks at Winry and says as calmly and gently as she can, “Listen, these next two days are all I ask for. Can you not put yourself first just this once, for me?”

Winry scoffs, “Yeah, like you always put Roy first.” She storms off, not wanting anything to do with her sister or her stupid marriage anymore.

“Winry, wait!” It was too late. She had slammed the bathroom door shut and blocked it so Riza couldn’t get in. Riza sighed and turned her back to the door, frustrated with her sister. Looking down at the fortune cookie, Riza cracked it open and read the fortune inside.

On the other side of the door, Winry leaned against it to hold it shut while she also opened up her fortune cookie.

They both read: “A journey begins, its prize reflected in another’s eyes. When what you see is what you lack then selfless love will change you back.”

Suddenly, the restaurant started to shake. The tremors throw both the girls off balance as everything shakes harder and harder. The chandeliers circle back and forth and the potted plants and nick knacks fall over. Winry and Riza grab the walls for support, both of them are caught off guard with the earthquake. Then, just as suddenly as it began, the shaking stops.

Winry rips open the bathroom door to see her sister who’s just as stunned as she is. “Are you ok?” She asks, holding on to her older sister.

“Yeah, you?” Riza looks down at her face. Winry nods and they both take a deep breath, trying to get their bearings.

“Come on.” Riza pulls Winry back into the dining area so they can meet up with rest of their family, expecting everyone to be in a frenzy. Only, the restaurant was bustling as usual. Not one person seemed alarmed.

Riza runs over to their table and asks if everyone’s alright, putting a hand on Selim’s head. They all give her a questioning look as if she’s crazy. “Yeah, we’re ok. Why, what happened?” Roy questions, he’s serving her food as if nothing was wrong. She slowly lowers herself into her seat, confused.

“What do you mean?” Winry asks, “There was an earthquake!”

Selim laughs, “No there wasn’t!”

“An earthquake?” Roy questions again looking at Grumman who jumps out of his chair, alarmed.

“Earthquake!”

Roy tries to calm Grumman down, assuring him that there weren’t any earthquakes, and everything was fine but neither of the sisters pay him any attention. Winry and Riza stare at each other, wondering the same thing: What just happened?

Behind them, Fuu walks by with the same smile on his face, knowing exactly what happened between the two.

Thankfully, the rest of the evening goes by without any more arguments or earthquakes. That night, everyone’s tucked in their bed’s, sleeping soundly. The wind outside howls and the clock turns to midnight. Instantly, Winry’s body turns over on her back, laying still. Across the house, Riza flops over onto her stomach, splaying out over the bed.


	6. Chapter 6

It’s time to get up. Riza stretched her legs and did a mental checklist of all the things she had to get done today.

I hope Roy doesn’t forget to pick up the tuxes from the dry cleaners, I’ll have to remind him just in case. And we have the breakfast meeting with the Governor today. Ugh, I hope it goes by fast, I hate that pompous ass. I need to call the mechanic for my car, he said it would be ready today. Oh, and I have a parent teacher conference with Selim’s teacher. I hope he’s doing well in school, I can’t handle another Winry. God, Winry. She better have an apology ready for me this morning, that little brat. I wonder why my alarm hasn’t gone off… Alright, I better get up.

Riza opens her eyes and is immediately disoriented. There were posters on the walls, instead of picture frames. She was in Winry’s room. Why the hell was she in Winry’s room? Did I sleepwalk last night? Is this some sort of prank?

Riza stands up and something doesn’t feel right. She doesn’t feel right. Looking down at herself she sees pajamas she doesn’t own. She sees feet that aren’t hers. Hands that aren’t hers. Boobs that aren’t hers. What the fuck?

Running to the vanity mirror, Riza sees Winry’s face staring back at her and grasps it in horror. Am I dreaming? This isn’t real, this can’t be real! She screams in panic.

“Winry! Come quick!” Selim runs into the doorway looking distraught. “Riza’s dead!”

“What?” she says aloud, confused now more than ever.

I’m dead! I died and now I’m stuck in Winry’s body? What the fuck is going on?

“Hurry!” Selim runs out and Riza follows. Her little brother is standing by her actual body laying on her bed. My God, she feels like she’s in the Twilight Zone.

“Look! She’s not moving! She didn’t even wake up this morning!” He gestures to the body that’s face down in her pillow. She certainly looks like she’s dead.

Horrified, Riza pokes her body, hoping to any God that’s out there that she’s not actually dead and that this is some sort of horrible nightmare.

Riza’s body groans and turns on her other side, trying to avoid any more prodding. Wait a second.

“She moved.” Selim’s eyes are round now, staring at his eldest sister. Riza tries to pull her body over so they can see her face but she resists, keeping her face planted in the pillows. “Five more minutes!” she muffles.

“What’s wrong with her, is she sick?” Selim asks Riza, who he thinks is Winry, completely worried.

“Selim, honey, why don’t you go downstairs and have breakfast? I’ll get her up.” Riza runs her hand over his hair to calm him down.

His twists out of her touch, “What are you doing? Did you just call me honey?”

“Um, yes, I mean, no. Just, go downstairs. I’ll take care of this.” She keeps her hands to herself this time, not wanting to frighten her little brother anymore than she is.

“Alright.” He looks at her unsure and walks out of the room, obviously confused at both his sister’s behavior.

Ok, If I’m in Winry’s body, then Winry must be in my body. What the hell am I saying? Like nightmares have any logic.

Riza shakes her body again, but she doesn’t react. “Hello. Wake up.” She jostles her harder this time. Her body groans and tells Riza to leave. Ok that is definitely Winry. Surer, Riza smacks Winry’s butt, which is weird because it’s actually her butt.

“Hey, you need to get up now! There’s something wrong!” When Winry still doesn’t move, Riza grabs her by the ankles and pulls.

Knowing all her sister’s tricks for trying to get her out of bed already, Winry holds onto the railings in her headboard. Only the railings are gone, there’s nothing to grab onto for some reason. What the hell? She gets pulled down her bed by the ankles and flops on the floor.

Riza drops Winry out of bed. “Get up!” she yells again.

“What the hell Riza? All I asked for was five minutes!” Winry yells back as she stands up. When she looks at her sister, she’s shocked into silence.

“Winry, listen, I know this is strange, but I’m just as confused as you are.” Riza says gently, holding out her hands to calm her sister down.

“What the hell are you?” Winry jumps on the bed to get away from her doppelgänger. “Why do you look like me?”

“Calm down. It’s me, Riza. I don’t know what’s going on either, but I think we switched bodies.” Riza points to Winry.

Winry looks down at herself in horror as she realizes she’s not in her own body either. She screams in terror, standing on her sister’s bed, in her sister’s clothes, in her sister’s body.

“What did you do?” She cries at her own body which is apparently her sister now.

“You think I did this?” Riza asks incredulously. “This is not my doing! This is some sort of nightmare, or something!”

“Are we high?” Winry asks feeling up and down Riza’s body, totally unsure of what she should do. “Did we do drugs last night?”

“What? No! We didn’t do any drugs, Winry!”

“Should we go to the hospital?”

“No! We are not going to the hospital! They will think we’re insane and lock us up in the psych ward for 48 hours! And I can’t be locked up! I have a wedding tomorrow!”

“Oh my god, I am not getting married! That’s not happening!” Winry shrieks in disgust.

“Ok, ok.” Riza assures her sister, like she’s got an idea.

“Ok, what?”

“There has to be an explanation for this.” Riza paces back and forth, “If this is a nightmare, then all we have to do is wake up!”

“Ok, how do we do that?” Winry gets down from the bed. “Do we just pinch ourselves?” She stands in front of her body.

“Yeah, let’s try it. Ready. One… two… three!” They both pinch themselves as hard as they can, their eyes clenched shut. Nothing happened.

“Ow! Shit!” Winry rubs the sore spot on her arm. “I don’t feel anything except a bruise, you?”

“Nothing.” Riza solemnly shakes her head. They both try to think of another way to fix their problem.

“O-ok, what about if we just,” Winry smacks her hands together. “Collide! You know. To get us back.”

“Yes! Like a jolt! Ok, you go over there and then we’ll run to each other, alright.”

“Alright!” Winry goes to the opposite corner of the room, crouching in her stance.

“Alright, ready… Go!” The two girls sprint at each other, colliding in the middle and falling backwards. They both groan in pain, rubbing their foreheads. “Ow, ok, that was stupid.”

“Yeah,” Winry agrees. “That really hurt.”

“Riza!” Selim calls for his sister as he walks back into her bedroom. When he sees them on the floor he asks, “What are you guys doing?”

Standing up, Riza thinks of a reasonable explanation. “Nothing! I was just, uh, teaching Riza some new dance moves. You know, for the wedding. Tomorrow.”

“Oh… k.” He turns to his other sister, “Can you come downstairs? Grandpa keeps asking me where the laxatives are. He says he’s constipated, whatever that is.”

“Not now, twerp. Can’t you see we’re a little busy?” Winry snaps, “Go be annoying somewhere else.”

Stunned, Selim steps back, eyes wide. “I said get out!” Winry shoves forward to threaten him and he scrambles out of the room in fear.

“Oh my god, you cannot treat him like that!” Riza scolds her sister. “He thinks you’re me!”

“Well, what am I supposed to do? Pretend I’m you and you’re me?”

“Yes! We can’t let anyone know about this or they’ll think we’re crazy!”

“But this is crazy!” Winry gestures between them.

“I know, I know!” Riza grabs the sides of her hair, wanting to pull it out.

“What if it’s not just us? What if it’s like a thing that’s going on?” Winry suggests, “People all over the place could be switched and we don’t know!”

“Good idea! Maybe the news says something about it!”

Both girls run to check their phones and do a quick search on body switching. Unfortunately, there’s no breaking news on the phenomenon, only far-fetched science fiction articles and stories. They groan in frustration. “This is hopeless.” The younger sister moans.

“How about we check on Selim and Grandpa? Maybe they’re affected somehow.” Riza walks out of her bedroom with Winry following close behind. They slowly creeped down the stairs, trying not to be noticed by anyone else in the house.

At the kitchen table Selim was sitting across from their grandfather, who was reading a newspaper. “Grandpa, can you pass the milk?” he asked. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“They look pretty normal to me.” Winry whispers to Riza who nods in agreement.

“So, what could be the reason we’re switched?” Riza asks, “What happened to us?”

“Grandpa, pass the milk!” Selim says louder since Grumman doesn’t seem to hear a word. “Grandpa!” Selim begins shaking the table to get his attention. “Pass! The! Milk!”

Grumman notices the shaking and shoots up in his seat yelling, “Earthquake!” He runs outside the front door shouting, “Save yourselves!”

Both sisters gasp and look at each other. “The earthquake!” They say in unison. “It must have happened while we we’re at the restaurant last night!” Winry tells her sister. “That’s why we’re like this!”

“Exactly!” They run back to Riza’s room to finish solving the mystery of their predicament.

“The earthquake and LanFan’s crazy grandpa giving us those fortune cookies and talking in Xingnese. He must have done something to us.” Winry paces back and forth, putting the pieces together. “Some sort of curse.”

“Yes, it has to be it.” Riza agrees, tracing her mouth with her fingers. “It explains why nobody else felt it but us.”

“Well, I guess that means we have to go back there and make him change us back!”

“Yes, but, the restaurant doesn’t open until lunchtime, and besides, you have school and I have work.” She points out.

“You can’t be serious. Have you seen us?” Winry yells waving down at the body that wasn’t her own. “We’re not exactly ready to be going to school and work Riza, we’re in each other’s bodies!”

“I know that, Winry, but your teacher said you’re on the verge of being suspended! And, your placement exam is today! You can’t miss it!” Winry feels odd seeing her own body reprimanding her.

“Well, then have fun taking it for me! Because they surely won’t let a 30-year-old in there to take it!” She laughs back at her sister.

“Hey! I am not 30!” Riza points, “And I think I could handle a simple high school placement exam.”

“Yeah, right,” Winry scoffs, “Maybe you could have ten years ago.”

Glaring, Riza walks up to her sister, “Alright, so I’ll go to school for you, since you’ve been doing so amazing at it lately, and I’ll prove it’s not as hard as you make it seem.”

“Fine.” The younger girl shrugs, “And I’ll stay home until the restaurant opens and give Mr. Fuu a piece of my mind.”

Outside they hear the front door open and Roy’s voice calling Grumman’s name. Running to the window, Riza looks outside to see Roy’s SUV on the driveway, and him trying to pull their grandfather from the neighbor’s car.

“Oh my god, Roy!” Riza grabs her head in distress. Turning to her sister she says, “You can’t stay home today! We have a very important meeting with the overnor!”

“What! No way!” Winry shakes her head, eyes wide with desperation. “I have no idea what it is you do! I’d probably mess everything up!”

“Ok, ok, just hear me out.” Riza calms her down. “I just need you to show your face, you don’t say anything, you don’t ask anything, you don’t answer anything.”

“And what if someone asks me something?” Winry whines.

“Then just say… ‘I’ll get back to you on that.’ Alright? Nothing else, do you understand? You are not to say anything else.”

“I’ll get back to you on that?” she replies incredulously. “How is that an answer?”

Riza smiles, “You’d be surprised, most of the time these people have no idea what they’re talking about. You’ll do fine, just keep your mouth shut.”

“Wow, so we’re really doing this, huh? We’re really going to be each other?”

“Yes, and then at lunch time we’ll go back to the restaurant and switch back. Problem solved.” They stare at each other for a second, totally unsure of what they’re about to do. “Well, let’s get to it, I’m sure we’re already late.”

“Ok.” Winry says quietly, extremely nervous at the thought of going to work as her sister and meeting the governor. She didn’t even know what was going on in her civics class, how was she going to keep up there? Looking down the cell-phone in her hand, a thought comes to her. “Wait, who’s phone do we take?” She asks holding up her phone.

“We’ll take our own.” Riza says walking back to Winry’s bedroom.

“Sounds good to me. Oh, and have fun changing without a door.” She smiles sweetly to her sister who frowns back.

They each do their best to dress themselves in each other’s clothes. Riza doesn’t understand why Winry needs so many crop tops. How have I never noticed she only wears half a shirt? Rummaging through the piles of clothes on the chair and desk, she tries to find something decent.

Winry on the other hand can’t find anything remotely appealing in her sister’s closet. Who even wears shoulder pads anymore? She finds a little power suit that’s cute yet professional and decides it’s as good as it’s gonna get.

When they meet out in the hallway they asses one another. “Where did you find that? In the back of my closet?.” Riza asks as they walk downstairs.

“Yeah, behind all the man suits and shoulder pads.” Winry retorts.

“Excuse me. I dress sensible, unlike you.” For emphasis Riza pulls down the hem of her shirt which was already riding up her stomach.

“Good morning.” Roy greets them, sitting at the kitchen counter with Grumman. “How did you two sleep last night?”

“Oh,” Winry gives an awkward laugh, “Hey… honey… Good morning.” She looks to Riza for help.

“We slept great Roy, thanks for asking.” Riza steps in. “Are you ready to take us to school?”

He’s shocked that Winry spoke more than three words to him. “Oh, yeah. I’m ready when you are.”

The family packs into Roy’s car. Winry was flipping through the radio as usual and finally settled on a rock station, humming along to the song.

Intrigued, Roy asks, “Who’s this?” Arching his eyebrow at his fiancée.

“What? You don’t know who Fall Out Boy is?” She wrinkles her face at him.

“Riza…” Riza warns from the backseat. If her sister screws up her engagement one day before the wedding, she was going to murder her.

“Sorry,” She apologizes to Roy, “I just have such horrible taste in music, you know, I thought you’d know better.” And gives him a forceful smile.

“It’s alright.” He reaches out to grab her hand while he drives. Winry stiffens and looks back at Riza, uneasy. Her sister just motions for her to go along with it. 

Selim flicks Riza’s ear and chuckles when she whips around to reprimand him. “Can you settle down please?”

“Bite me!” He yells and tosses a paper ball at her head.

“Do you see what he does to me?” Winry turns in her seat. “He’s a little monster!”

“Stop it!” Riza scolds back. “Both of you!”

Huffing and sitting back in her seat, Winry tries her best to avoid any more contact with Roy. She already feels uneasy enough about having to hold his hand. She then ponders what Ed would think of her holding hands with a man that’s twice her age and has to keep her vomit down.

Arriving at Winry’s school, Riza is reluctant to exit the car. She’s suddenly uncertain about being able to handle high school life now that she sees the other students roaming on campus.

“Uh, Riza, can I talk to you outside for a second?” She pulls open the door and steps out. Winry quickly detaches herself from Roy and jumps out as well.

Outside, Riza asks for a briefing on Winry’s schedule, her friends, and her classes. “What’s the name of the girl? You know, the one who’s always climbing on the roof?”

“That’s Paninya,” Riza gives her a look as if she’s never going to remember that name but Winry ignores her, “Paninya, alright? And do me a favor, please?” She asks seriously. “Stay away from Ed, ok?”

At the mention of Winry’s childhood friend, Riza has to ask “Ed? Why?”

“Well, we’ve just been fighting a lot and I don’t want you to get in the middle of it.” Riza seems unconvinced. “Just do it, ok?” Winry cannot afford for her sister to find out that she’s had a boyfriend for months without telling her. That would jeopardize her relationship with Ed, especially if she finds out how far it’s progressed. Giving Edward the cold shoulder for one day is better than the consequences she would face if it all got out in the open.

Squinting her eyes, Riza coincides, “Fine, but I expect to hear the whole story when we’re back to normal.” Winry nods her head eagerly, relieved that her sister had agreed to her request.

“And one last thing,” Riza tells her sister before she turns back to the car. “Don’t alienate Roy, but please don’t kiss him.” She feels weird even having to ask.

“Ew, Riza, that’s disgusting.” Winry shivers in repulsion.   
The sisters say goodbye and give each other one last wave before they go their separate ways, reluctant to be left alone in each other’s lives.


End file.
